Former MP Papapetrou’s car torched

By Constantinos Psillides

A car belonging to lawyer and former politician Michalis Papapetrou, 68, was destroyed by fire at around 1am on Tuesday, according to police.

A police spokesman told the Cyprus Mail the fire was set deliberately.

The BMW was parked outside Papapetrou’s home in Nicosia. The damage is estimated to be around €50,000.

Papapetrou had previously told daily Politis that his car had electrical issues and that a  short-circuit might be responsible for the fire.

“I went home at around 6pm on Monday, parked my car in the garage and didn’t leave for the rest of the day. At around 1.30am my wife, who has a better sense of smell than me, told me that something was wrong. We went to the veranda and saw the car burning like an Easter candle,” recounted Papapetrou.

Asked on the arsonist’s possible motive, Papapetrou responded that it might have something to do with him crossing over to the North Cyprus on Sunday.

“A friend of mine suggested that I became a target because on Sunday I went to the other side to congratulate the new Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on his victory. I wish that this is not the case,” said Papapetrou

Papapetrou has a long history in Cyprus politics.

He was elected to parliament in 1985 representing AKEL, which he left five years later to found his own party, ADISOK. The party had a short life span as it merged with United Democrats in 1996.

Papapetrou was also government spokesman in the Glafcos Clerides administration, from 1999 to 2003.

Papapetrou also backed the ‘Yes’ campaign in the 2004 Annan plan referendum, a decision for which he was heavily criticized in the past.

(Cyprus Mail, April 29, 2015)